India experienced its highest minimum temperature for December in 122 years, registering a notable anomaly of 1.71°C above normal in 2023
iStock photo for representation
In 2023, India endured its second-hottest year on record, marked by remarkably warm winters, monsoons and post-monsoon periods. At least 102 weather stations across 26 states and Union Territories shattered their monthly highest 24-hour maximum temperature in 122 years.
Ten of these stations were in million-plus cities — Bengaluru, Jamshedpur, Kochi, Kota, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Visakhapatnam — showed the analysis in State of India’s Environment In Figures: 2024, the annual publication by Down to Earth and Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment being released on May 31, 2024.
Twenty-seven of the weather stations with record-breaking temperatures were in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (9 each).
Thirty-four of the weather stations with record-breaking 24-hour maximum temperatures were reported in September.
The analysis, based on data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for 2023, also showed that India recorded its hottest minimum temperature in 122 years in 2023. Temperature records — whether maximum, mean, or minimum — were consistently broken during the last six months of 2023.
Except for October, minimum temperatures remained above normal in the other five months, with anomalies increasing from 0.57°C in July to 1.71°C in December. The country experienced its highest minimum temperature for December in 122 years, registering a notable anomaly of 1.71°C above normal.
In the first four months of 2024, except for March, the average minimum temperatures remained above normal in three months — January, February and April — with anomalies of 0.97°C, 0.79°C and 0.88°C respectively.
The average minimum temperature in the southern peninsular region was above the normal during all first four months of 2024, revealed the trends released by IMD in the monthly climate summaries.
Thus, in 2024, the southern peninsular region consistently experienced its second-highest minimum temperature for all the four months in 122 years.
India’s southern peninsula recorded ‘above normal’ average minimum temperature during the first four months of 2024, revealed the trends released by IMD in the monthly climate summaries.
The region also consistently experienced its second-highest minimum temperature in 122 years during these 4 months.
The rising maximum temperature and record breaking temperature reported from Delhi and other states is worrying. The trend for minimum temperature in 2023 and 2024 so far suggests a new normal for minimum temperatures, indicating that nights are becoming warmer.
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